Knitted mitten and method of making the same



Jan. 2, 1934. D. zwlcKER KNITTED MITTEN AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed March 26, 1932 ATTORNEY@ v Patented Jan. 2, 1934 UNITED STATES KNITTED MITTEN AND METHOD 0F MAKING THE SAME Dewey Zwickel',

Appleton,

Wis., assigner to Zwicker Knitting Mills, Appleton, Wis., a corheonlin poration of W Application Much ze. 1932. semi No. 601,317

This invention relates to improvements in knitted mittens and the method of making the same.

A knit mitten comprises a wrist portion, a body portion for enclosing all of the hand except the thumb, and a thumb portion. After the body portion of the mitten has been knit the adjacent edges oi' the outer end of the body portion must be secured together to complete the body portion of the mitten.

One of the most common forms for the securement of said outer edges of the mitten body is known as the cut-sewed tip method. By this method the edges are turned together and sewed4 on the inside of the mitten tip. This method is relatively cheap but is objectionable in that a pronounced seam or ridge is formed thereby within the tip of the mitten and in addition, this tip construction is not especially durable and the tip seam or ridge is likely to break out.

Another knit mitten tip construction is known as the hand fashioned" or narrowed tip construction. This tip construction is incorporated in the better grade of mittens and is accomplished by hand knitting to join the mitten tip edges. This construction eliminates the objectionable ridge occasioned by the other method 4referred to, but, in addition to being rela-tively expensive, it is objectionable in that any imperfections in the hand work will be visible and will impair the appearance of the mitten tip and also, such imperfections will materially weaken the joined tip.

It is, therefore, one of the objects of the present invention to provide a knitted mitten in which the tip is practically entirely machine fashioned whereby the mitten may be produced inexpensively, but the tip portion is so constructed that there is no objectionable ridge formed and in addition the tip is stronger and is reenforced to a greater extent than mitten tips formed by the hand fashioned or narrowed tip method.

A further object of the invention is to provide a knitted mitten having a tip portion which is novel and attractive in appearance and which is yieldable.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of knitting mittens by which the entire blank, including the integral tip, is knitted on a circular knitting machine in a manner so that only a very simple and expeditious hand operation is required to complete the tip and to provide a mitten tip of unusual strength and attractiveness.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of knitting mittens whereby the mitten tip portion is knitted with a stitch of a diiferent type and character from the stitch of the knitted body portion whereby the tip is adapted for easy connection and completion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a knitted mitten and method of making the same which is simple, inexpensive and expeditious, and well adapted for the purposes described.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of the improved knitted mitten and method of making the same, and its parts, combinations and steps, as set forth in the claims, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing in which the same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a completed knitted mitten constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the tip of the closed end thereof; and

Fig. 3 is a view of the knitted blank just prior to the flnal step in the completion of the tip.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, it will appear that the improved knitted mitten includes generally a wrist portion 5 knit with any conventional form of rib knitting as shown at 6, a body portion 'l including a thumb 8 all knit with any conventional form of jersey, single or balbriggan stitch, indicated by the numeral 9, and a tip portion 11 knit with ribs 12 and similar to the form of knitting used in the wrist portion 5.

In the manufacture of a mitten according to the improved method the mitten is knitted on a circular machine and so far as each individual mitten is concerned the part first knit is the wrist portion 5 which is knitted in tubular formation and with any of the conventional forms of ribbed knitting such as, for instance, a two and two rib stitch, as illustrated, or a one and one rib stitch, or in fact any type of stitch which will produce ribbing.4 Upon completion of the wrist portion 100 of a desired length, the machine knits the body portion 7 of the mitten and said body portion is knit, as before mentioned, by any conventional form of jersey, single or balbriggan stitch. When the end portion of the body, which in- 106 cludes the integral thumb '8, is reached, the machine again resumes a ribbed form of knitting and the rib stitching in the tip portion thus formed is similar to that in the wrist portion.

As will appear from the drawing the tip por- 110 tion, of ribbed knitting, has the same number of rows of stitches, considered circumterentially, as does the body portion.

The tip portion is knit with the rib knitting to a desired length, usually from one-hal! to one inch and then the mitten is removed from the machine and the operator unravels several of the end rows of knitting. This unraveling permits the operator to gather the stitches together and to secure the same at the extreme tip with an ordinary hand darning needle, as indicated particularly by the numeral 13 in Fig. 2 oi' the drawing. 'I'his gathering together of the stitches is at the apex of the tip and results in a properly shaped and tapered tip portion and the proper shaping o1' the tip portion results from the fact that said tip portion, knit with rib stitches, contracts due to the close adjacency of the rows of stitches forming the ribs, and the rib stitches also permit said tip portion to yield to the proper desired ultimate shape when the tip apex is secured, as at 13.

A mitten as thus formed is attractive in appearance as the tip thereof is quite novel and distinctive, being formed with ribs. do the ribs permit the fashioning of the tip in the manner described, but as fashioned and secured at the apex the ribs converge toward a common point and enhance the attractiveness and appearance of the mitten. This rib knitted tip portion is extremely durable because of the additional strength resulting from the rib knitting and in addition the rib knitting makes the tip portion yieldable so that it can be stretched or distorted in ordinary usage without subjecting the tip portion to undue strain such as would ordinarily cause the stitches to break out. A mitten knitted according to the improved method can be produced for practically the cost of the production of the common form of inexpensive mitten which is formed with the cut-sewed tip and does not have the objectionable features inherent to a cut-sewed mitten in that it is considerably stronger and does not have the inner protruding ridge. The improved mitten is considerably more inexpensive to manufacture than is a hand fashioned or narrowed tip mitten but Not only is more advantageous than said latter class of mittens due to the reinforcement of the tip by the ribbed knitting and the tact that there is no line of connection extending across the top in which imperfections would show up and weaken the tip.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the improved knitted mitten and method of making the same is simple, expeditious and novel, and well adapted for the purposes set forth.

What is claimed as tne invention is:

1. The method of knitting a mitten which consists of knitting in tubular seamless form a ribbed wrist portion, then knitting a tubular seamless ybody portion integral therewith of jersey stitch, next changing the stitch to a rib stitch and knitting a tubular seamless tip portion of a desired length and with the same number of rows of stitches as said body portion, unraveling several of the outer rows of knitting of the tip portion, and nally utilizing said unraveled threads to draw and secure the end of the tip portion together at an apex to provide a contracted closed ovate tip portion.

2. A knitted mitten, comprising a tubular wrist portion of rib stitch knitting, a tubular body portion of jersey stitch knitting, and an ovate tip portion of rib stitch knitting, the portions of rib stitch knitting having the same number of rows of stitches circumferentially as the body portion of jersey stitch knitting, the tip portion presenting a narrowed appearance because of the tendency of the rib stitch material to gather into less space than the jersey knit material.

3. A knitted mitten, comprising a tubular wrist portion of rib stitch knitting, a tubular body portion of jersey stitch knitting, and a contracted ovate tip portion of rib stitch knitting, the portions of rib stitch knitting having the same number of rows of stitches circumferentially as the body portion of jersey stitch knitting, the tip portion presenting a narrowed appearance because of the close adjacency of the rows of stitching forming the ribs. 120

DEWEY ZWICKER. 

